A Queens Girl
by hecalledmecarrots
Summary: Part 2/? of my Story Book Club series
1. Chapter 1

The views of Prince Edward Island was in a state of constant flux on the train. Usually this gave the girl some comfort, she loved watching as the different worlds within one island came in and out of view, different people and places usually gave her inspiration for the soul.

Today it didn't. So unsettled was she that she smoothed her dress again for the fifth time since entering the carriage, and of course straightened her hat, her nose momentary perked in the air before settling again as she sat up (again for the fifth time).

"There's no need to fidget so." Josie informed her.

"I'm not fidgeting." She objected, "I'm concerned over the fabric."

Ruby, ever sweet as she was didn't realise it was an excuse and chipped in "I know what you mean, did I mention how pretty your new dresses are?"

The redhead smiled graciously and gratefully at her friend "Thank you Ruby, I do appreciate them." She told her friends "Matthew and Marilla went to a lot of trouble to make sure I would fit in."

"To my father it was no trouble." Josie boasted "all I have to do is say what I want and at the drop of the hat he gets it for me."

The redhead rolled her eyes "I'm sure he does Josie."

"There's a deeper meaning to it if you aren't used to it though." Jane said sensibly.

"Yes." She nodded in agreement "and both of them are so practical in purpose, they often don't see the trends in trivial matters." Anne admitted.

"I don't know if fashion is trivial." Ruby commented before she looked thoughtfully out the window "it never hurts to always look ones best."

"A neat and tidy appearance for sure." Jane added.

"I'll admit it might be harder to do in less trendy clothes, at least inside your head." Anne said.

"And Marilla and Matthew really saw to that." Ruby nodded.

"Well we really ought to look respectable now." Josie added, "just think of all the dashing men we'll meet."

Anne rolled her eyes.

"None could be as handsome as Gilbert." Ruby said dreamily her eyes following over to him, Anne and Jane exchanged amused looks before Anne looked over, he was looking in their general direction of the girls, despite Charlie's nattering, just as Anne's eyes met his strong jaw set, his attention turning back to Charlie.

Anne felt her heart drop for a moment before she whispered kindly to Ruby "I think he saw you looking." To which her lips upturned sweetly her eyes lighting. "It must be the new dress." Anne told her.

"We do look like grown ups now!" Ruby admitted. "Just think we could be teaching in two years!"

"Yes." Anne said still feeling a little blue. "Two years." She wondered if she could wait that long to go home, to Matthew, to Marilla, to Avonlea. For the slightest moment she felt sad, and decided she was very certainly going to be homesick.

* * *

Anne had decided, she was fix in her resolution with a determined fight. As soon as it was mentioned there was a class for doing the teachers certificate in one year rather then two she knew she would go for it. Yes it would be harder, yes it would mean twice the work of her classmates and none of the other Avonlea girls had opted for it, but then, her hear ached, she knew it was the challenge made for her.

She would have been disappointed not so long ago entering the classroom and finding him there too. Fact was her heart had softened towards the tall lean curly haired boy with a strong jaw line and hazel nut eyes, so much so it was an actual comfort to have him there, she thought.

The way Gilbert had been since he rescued her from the bridge and she had refused his friendship again was one of a rivial. No you never would have guess the boy had for years tried to become her friend, no he very lately treated her as the stranger she had always wished he had.

If she was truthful with the matter she would tell you how much it ached her girly heart. She had multiple chances to prove her character to show she could forgive, not even to become friends (though she suspected they might be good ones) just to have him nod at her existence.

Anne slid into a seat nervously as she noticed the other few girls in the room. Mostly she didn't recognise them from orientation this morning another two girls doing the two years in one. But there were other girls in the class she supposed would be on their second year.

**"I wouldn't feel comfortable without it," she thought**, returning to a more familiar feeling looking over at Gilbert, who was busy acquainting himself with another boy beside him,** "Gilbert looks awfully determined. I suppose he's making up his mind, here and now, to win the medal. What a splendid chin he has! I never noticed it before. I do wish Jane and Ruby had gone in for First Class, too. I suppose I won't feel so much like a cat in a strange garret when I get acquainted, though. I wonder which of the girls here are going to be my friends. It's really an interesting speculation. Of course I promised Diana that no Queen's girl, no matter how much I liked her, should ever be as dear to me as she is; but I've lots of second-best affections to bestow. I like the look of that girl with the brown eyes and the crimson waist. She looks vivid and red-rosy; there's that pale, fair one gazing out of the window. She has lovely hair, and looks as if she knew a thing or two about dreams. I'd like to know them both—know them well—well enough to walk with my arm about their waists, and call them nicknames. But just now I don't know them and they don't know me, and probably don't want to know me particularly. Oh, it's lonesome!"**

* * *

"You're here for the 1 year certificate?" The friendly looking girl with brown hair and almost black eyes asked her the very next day.

"Um yes, I'm Anne, Anne Shirley." She said with a smile to her.

"I'm Stella." She said offering the space next to her on the bench which Anne gratefully took. "And this is Prissy." She introduced Anne to a girl with blond hair." Stella smiled "she's a genius like you and taking the certificate in one year." Stella smiled. "This is my second year."

Anne nodded "so you'll be able to make sure we make it to our classes?" She said nervously.

This made Stella laugh melodically. "I promise I'm more useful then that." Stella looked around "are you acquainted with anyone else in the room?"

"No girls," Anne admitted "Only Gilbert Blythe over there, well what I mean to say is that we went to Avonlea school together, which is about all I'm acquainted with him over."

"I don't suppose any of us are really very close tot he boys from our school." Stella said, which soothed Anne's anxiety a little.

"What's he like then?" Prissy asked her.

Anne's eyebrows shot up surprised anyone would ask what Gilbert was like, especially to her, but here these girls didn't know their history. "Gilbert is very smart and determined." She said told inconclusive of his personality or looks, but if there were anything Anne knew of him was that he was those two things.

I know this is a short introduction chapter but it felt right doing a short one. Hopefully the next few will be longer!


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi All,**

**Again, thank you so much for the continued support on this project. I'm starting to wish I'd split my AOGG like this into sections, but I think its taught me something important too!**

**It actually really funny writing about Queen's because there isn't much in the book about it, one chapter its the beginning of the year and shes settling in the next she's looking at her results... So fitting it into canon is interesting! But it'll be nice writing about Stella and Priss, they are often set aside in favour of the more dramatic Phil (whom I love also) but it'll be nice to add a bit more to them, I mean Anne talks about them later on in life they were obviously important to her.**

**So, yes here is a bit more about a Queen's girl!**

**love**  
**Carrots**

* * *

It was that very Monday upon returning to her little room that Anne made up her mind not to be homesick.

She was of course realistic with it all. She knew there would be bouts of it. Some days she might only miss it a little others the whole day through! But she supposed if she was going to try for the Avery and she did get said award, she would have to become accustom to it.

All that to one side Anne smiled at the small bunch of wild flowers she had found on the doorstep when she returned to Charlottetown. The landlady had put them in water for her and allowed her to keep it, the flowers were small so fit in a small jug, but they were the loveliest flowers she had seen! Looking at them, she could swear they were Avonlea flowers, but that was highly unlikely, and she must admit, Charlottetown wasn't that far from Avonlea, they were probably very much Charlottetown flowers. She smiled as she placed them on her dresser she gave a contented sigh. No, this wasn't her bedroom, but those flowers made them more of a home, and suddenly she was so very inspired!

It was then that the feeling that home was closer then she thought came to her soul, and she took a deep breath in and decided to make the most of it, of this chance for her education.

She forgot to even question herself further as to where the flowers came from, for they were indeed Avonlea flowers.

* * *

Anne's eyes wandered to the blond haired blue eyed Ruby and the tall lean hazel eyed Gilbert as they exited the train one Friday evening.

"Anne!" A voice called through the crowd to which Anne sighed in relief as she saw Diana rushing down the platform.

"Diana!" Anne called gliding a few steps towards her friend before embracing her.

"Oh!" Diana sighed excitingly "Look at you! Another week wiser and all I have is another week round my waist!"

Anne smiled and told her friend "You look wonderful dearest Diana."

"Oh I have so much to tell you of Avonlea!" Diana told her as they walked up the platform to the luggage.

_"Do you want me to get those?" he asked her kindly._

_She looked up at him shocked his steady eyes meeting her nervous ones._

_"Please, a-an-and thank you." She said with a smile to him._

_"Did you enjoy Professor Hamilton's English lecture this morning?" he asked her as he reached across the pile of luggage grabbing his bags with hers._

_"Y-yes." She replied a little more at ease. "I really loved the idea of splitting the classes into the themes of a novel."_

_"And you like the novel even more?" He asked her with a knowing smile._

_"I do enjoy Jane Austen its true." She laughed as they walked down the platform to the exit. _

_"So, are you a Churchill or a Knightley?" He asked her with a grin._

_"You know I've read the book already, you know I know how it ends." She laughed. "Oh my girly heart wanted the romance of Churchill!" _

_"Romance?!" he scoffed. "Come on!"_

_"Come on what?" she demanded "on first reading you think..."_

_"You mean you imagine?" he asked. _

_"Think, imagine?" She shrugged "I don't see such a big difference." She sighed "I suppose you're a Knightley?" _

_"Even if Churchill wasn't engaged to Jane, even before the novel begins Knightley has already proven..."_

_"Proven?!" She exclaimed._

_"...he's steady, he's strong, he's reliable..."_

_"So that makes him an automatic match?"_

_Though he didn't stop in his speech as she spoke he carried on "Mr. Knightley is a true gentleman in lineage, estate, and virtue. He displays integrity and charity, as he constantly uses his resources."_

_"I'm not saying he's not an admirable character just that he wasn't obviously for Emma."_

_"He is the only character who openly critiques Emma, he's the only one who give a jolt about her moral development. His judgment is well respected and, though not entirely biased by his self-interest, he nonetheless proves to be more discerning than many of the other characters in the novel."_

_"He was also jealous of Churchill." She pointed out._

_"To be fair he loved her, how was he meant to react when the women he loved was being wooed by another man?" he shrugged "I don't know how I would handle it." He said looking at her, which made her slightly uneasy._

_"I don't see how critiquing the person you love is romantic." She said her nose going in the air._

_His lips smiled in a lopsided grin "I don't suppose it is, but rather, if I wanted a person to fall in love with me, I'd want them to fall in love with the me me, the flawed, the faults, the failings, I'd want to be loved despite them."_

_She sighed deeply in a dream of her own and replied "I'd want to be loved because of them." _

_He looked at her and asked again "were you really routing for Churchill?" _

_She sighed "I get to that part and I really want it to be different, just to see what happens you know, there's this logical part of me which knows it will end as it always does but there's this little part of me which wonders if it won't end differently this time that the written word will morph into something different." She chuckled and looked at him "I suppose you'd call that stupid." _

_"I would suppose it was because you have an imagination." He said with a grin to her. They walk a while in a comfortable silence before he asked her "I suppose you think of a hundred endings to a book before you get to the end of it?" _

_She smiled and nodded "and that's just before breakfast." To which he gave a good chortle. "Do you have any ideas on the mathematical equations we were given?" she asked him._

_"I do, I think I know it." He said with a shrug._

_"Urgh!" she exclaimed "I wish it were that easy."_

_"Well maybe I can drop in tomorrow we can go through it together, I can test my theory and you can learn it, best way to see if I'm right is to..."_

_"...explain it to someone else!" they ended in unison._

_"That would be appreciated." She nodded. "Though we do it after 4 in the afternoon? I promised Diana I would spend the day with her but I must come home for dinner."_

_He nodded "Sounds fine by me, then shall we go to the carnival together then? I hear they have hot dogs there this year."_

_Her eyes lit up and she laughed "Oh who'd guess little old Avonlea!" She laughed "Hotdogs!" _

_"Mrs Lynde said they'll be the 'moral decay of our society'." he laughed "something about instant gratification."_

_"So how come we're getting them?"_

_"Anthony Pye apparently pressed so much for them, he saw them when they were in New York for part of the summer visiting relatives, he put so much pressure on Mrs Pye, she convinced the whole clan there was nothing unholy about the food so..."_

_"The Pye's had theirs and ate it." She nodded._

_"Ummm." He said as they came to a halt "here we are." He said looking down the field towards Green Gables. _

_"Thank you for the walk, and tomorrow sounds good, the maths and the carnival." _

_He nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow then Anne." He nodded._

_"Bye G-"_

"Anne?!" Diana's fingers snapped in front of her friends face. "Are you still with me?"

"Ummm?" She flushed remembering the words of her imaginary friend just moments before hand. "yes, sorry." Anne nodded before her shoulder rubbed with the curly haired boy shoulder.

"Excuse me." He said quietly and politely before he pulled not only Anne's but Ruby's and his own bags out of the luggage, briefly handing Anne hers before turning to Ruby and offering to carry hers. Ruby blushed, smiled and agreed as he walked her down the platform.

"I wouldn't have thought she was his type." Diana said shrugged.

Anne scoffed "We're all young enough for our 'types' to be fluid." She said thoughtfully. "Ideals, thoughts even feelings for people can change next to our experiences."

Diana smiled as they exited the station, "I suppose." She agreed thoughtfully "not you?" she asked her friend.

Anne looked again as Ruby hand was taken by Gilbert as he helped her into their family buggy, Mrs Blythe sitting on the front controlling the horses, Anne felt her heart drop inside, not that she let it show. Only of you listened very carefully could you pick up on the hint of regret in her voice, no it wasn't because she wanted to be the centre of his affections, just an ache for a friendship which _should_ have been, just a comradeship which had been lost in the regret of rejection. "No, no not me."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi Everyone!**

**Thank you so much for your reviews! So many comments on her fantasy of a friendship with Gilbert. I've touched on it again here, that she just isn't looking for a friendship here but it there inside her mind, and it is a shame she hasn't got that friendship with him and she doesn't even acknowledges yet that she misses what it could have been!**

**And yes, those flowers! Definitely from Gilbert! Oh the undertones you can draw from that!**

**love**

**Carrots x**

* * *

Stella sighed "what's the likelihood of Avonlea producing two of the smartest people in class?"

"Not at all" Josie sneered. Anne had introduced Stella and Priss, both Jane and Ruby taking them in sweetly. Josie taking every opportunity to show her advantages. "Avonlea didn't produce Anne." Priss and Stella looking confused towards Anne. "Anne was born off island and was orphaned, it was Avonlea who took her in."

Jane spoke carefully yet firmly "some quicker then others."

"We all think of you as an Avonleaian Anne." Ruby told Anne who was looking pink round the edges. "You'd never know you weren't."

"Thank you Ruby."

"I suppose you didn't tell them you were an orphan because of the shame." Josie added.

"I doubt that!" Stella jumped in.

"We've been much too busy to get each other's backgrounds in the second class." Priss managed quietly.

"I doubt anyone decent would see any shame in Anne's position." Stella added so incontestably it made Josie blush. "Do you know anything of your parents?" Stella asked Anne kindly.

"I know their names, and I know they were school teachers." Anne replied.

"See school teachers, perfectly respectable blood if you ask me." Stella told Josie off enough for her to turn on her heal and leave the group. "The cheek of some people." Stella muttered under her breath. "People like her only go to prove the phrase 'money doesn't buy you class.'"

"I hate to say it, Josie can be awfully spiteful over Anne." Ruby managed to squeak uneasily.

"Jealousy?" Priss speculated.

"I'll say!" Ruby admitted. "Josie only just scraped through the entrance exam and you should have seen her face when she saw your name at the top!" Ruby continued "I'm fine with being somewhere in the middle, I'm glad to have made it at all!"

"Yes." Jane observed "she was particularly green that afternoon."

"But Anne's super smart." Ruby admitted, "its s shame you and Gilbert don't get along, you talk exactly alike, he might enjoy the company up there."

"You and Gilbert don't get along?" Priss asked.

"It's neither here nor there." Anne said quickly before changing the subject back "but I had to work very hard for those result, as I would imagine anyone with those marks would."

"Gilbert worked continuously, I can't remember seeing him without a book in those last few weeks in particular." Jane admitted.

"So, then that explains it, we worked hard, and for all you can say about Josie, studying isn't a virtue of hers." Anne told the new girls "so you see if she had worked I'm sure she would have made it more then half way."

"It pre-dates Queen's though..." Ruby tried.

"But lets not let a bitter attitude spoil our luncheon ladies." Anne demanded.

"Indeed lets not." Stella agreed understanding the undertone of tension. "I for one, am glad that your smashing the social classes and showing that a little luck and determination can catapult you to the middle classes."

Anne smiled.

"And as for being orphaned, there's no shame in it," Priss said softly "at least not to any of us here."

Jane smiled "Cheers." She said holding up her bottle, the other girls following suit Anne being the last one to join.

"To friendship." Priss proposed.

* * *

"Can I ask you something?" Priss asked Anne. Anne's accommodation was just round the corner from Priss' and everyone else's was on the other side of the academy. So the girls found it a delight to walk home together after classes extending the debates and topics of the day.

"Of course." Anne said smiling her free hand reaching over and patting Priss' hand which was linked through her other arm.

"What's the real story behind you and Gilbert Blythe?" she asked, to which Anne's eyes rolled. "Its just his name pops up a lot with you two."

"Unnaturally so, considering." Anne replied with a hint of petulance. Stella looked to her confused before Anne gave a heavy sigh "We just got off on the wrong foot." Anne admitted "As such we never really made it up." She shrugged "I don't see what's so unusual about it? Surely you have a bone to pick with a boy back home which makes you avoid him?" She asked.

"Well, I suppose." Stella replied "I just can't imagine Gilbert being that way, boys normally grow out of it by the time they reach 16."

"Well this predates that." Anne told her.

Stella looked confused at Anne "What did he do murder someone?"

The feeling rose from Anne's stomach which knotted as it rose through her body to her chest, she felt a child like panic rise within her which she never could shake.

It had hurt, just like every other time.

Oh she knew the saying all too well 'Sticks and Stone may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.' – Except it did. Every time. Names always hurt her, into her sensitive spirit, the same which could feel such empathy with others, which was so sensitive to others needs. The names bruised her spirit.

Her Eyes ears and lips were always too big for her tiny body, she had known that, though no one had ever picked on them individually. Often referred to as ugly, though her looks a stinging point was never what anyone focused on, and funnily it wasn't as though people could pick out what was ugly about her... except...

_"ha! Ha! Ginger nut, ginger nut!"_

_"Oh something's on fire... oh its just her hair!"_

_"My papa said you gingers have no soul!"_

_"Carrots! Ginger!"_

_"Lawful heart, did anyone ever see such freckles? And hair as red as carrots!"_

Then, the final taunt, the knife which cut into her so sharp the blade! It hurt, from him for some reason it hurt the most. _"Carrots! Carrots!"_

Oh if he could feel an ounce of the _humiliation and pain_ she felt! Her snow which skin blushed pink it hurt so much! If he felt that, maybe that would be revenge enough!

"He was almost fourteen and I was eleven." She said shakily. "And we just never made up."

Stella shrugged sadly.

"And anyway the topic of _that person _comes up far too unnaturally often in my world. He's just another boy from Avonlea, just as Moody or Charlie is to me, so is _he_."

Stella was amused "except you can barely mention his name!" a smile on her lips.

Anne heavily sighed "Fine." She continued "Gilbert, Gilbert Gilbert Gilbert, you happy?"

"Ecstatic." Stella teased her. "Now, tell me more, does all Sloane's have goggle eyes like Charlie's?"

* * *

"Oh, that reminds me," said Josie, "Queen's is to get one of the Avery scholarships after all. The word came today. Frank Stockley told me—his uncle is one of the board of governors, you know. It will be announced in the Academy tomorrow."

"The Avery?" Priss asked. "Are you sure?"

"If Frank says so." Josie shrugged "and anyway, its not as if I need it." She announced "My father can afford my second year here _and_ funding for university if it pleased me." Though she scoffed at that "But I think every women who goes to university is just looking for her M.R.S." Then with a vindictive smile "maybe Anne would like to be the first girl in Avonlea to go to university."

Anne took a deep breath in "I assure you, if I chose to go to university the only letters which would be added to my name would come _after_ my name not before."

"No girl from Avonlea has been to university before?!" Priss exclaimed.

"Its the same in many areas of the island Priss," Stella commented. "Julia was the first one back home and that was only _this_ year."

"Well, us true Avonleanian girls might get a teachers certificate and work until we find ourselves a husband, but we have common sense, who needs letters after your name when the letters before means you'll never use the ones after ever again." Josie sneered "I'd rather find a husband."

"Oh, I don't know!" Ruby gasped "I'm sure, if I had the brains to go for the Avery, although my parents might have the money to send me to college anyway, if that's what I really wanted, but if I was smart enough, I don't see the shame in going to college, I think Anne would do swell there." Ruby smiled.

"Thank you Ruby." Anne replied to her.

Ruby smiled kindly "We best be off," she said dragging Josie up too from the green "we have a science lecture which I must go to, I may be a dunce yet if I don't." She said with a hint of teasing "bye then ladies."

Anne smiled as she watched them leave, she wondered how sweet dearest Ruby could endure Josie's sour nature, but she did. "I have some studying to do, and its serious library studying." She admitted. "I have a geometry test tomorrow which I simply must study for."

After excusing herself Anne made it slowly over to the library building. For every ounce of her which wanted to study it out another two made her wish she didn't want to. She entered the library and to her surprise found Gilbert Blythe there studying with Emily Clay!

This shouldn't surprise her exactly, though why it did she didn't know. Maybe it was that scholastic achievement of their ability had been restricted in Avonlea to herself and Gilbert, as such he (and herself) were often found without study partners, here the field was wider, she supposed Gilbert found her mind challenging, just as she often did, and if it weren't for Gilbert's prior attachment and attraction to Ruby she would suppose he might have found Emily attractive, although Ruby was being noted as the prettiest girl on campus, Emily was pretty in the opposite way. Her long black hair in a pompadour she already wore it up, rather then the school plait they all wore, but it only made her sugar brown eyes seem larger and more romantic, Anne shook her head as she sat down, why should it bother her who Gilbert Blythe was studying with!

Though had she studied out her own subconscious at this time she might have came to a similar conclusion as we did.

In her day dreams and her mind, sometimes even in her sleep, there was a tall, lean, curly haired boy with deep hazel eyes who was friends with her. They would share jokes, they would discuss books and poetry, culture and history, they would often debate, there was no agreeing in the relationship yet they were kindred, they'd leave happy and on good terms. Although in the fantasies there was no doubt of the identity of this friend, once she returned to reality she out rightly refused to admit the identity of the person.

Instead Anne brushed off the feeling in her stomach and she took a deep breath, if she wanted a chance at either the gold medal or the Avery, she would need to beat both Gilbert and Emily to it!


	4. Chapter 4

**Greeting kindred spirits,**

**I'll apologise now, I know my uploads are quite infrequent at the moment, I've not been too well at late and I've been settling into a new routine with my son going to nursery 16 hours a week. You think it would mean I have more time but all I find is that I don't. Never mind all is well, he's enjoying it which is the important thing.**

**So as predicted I have another two chapter of this to go although the last one maybe a little longer (the chapter that is)**

**I've had lovely review over this, so the next story will be based when they are friends and teaching together those two years in Anne of Avonlea. Um, yes, before they go to university.**

**love to all**

**Carrots x**

* * *

"Did you see his face?!" Anne laughed heartily.

"Absolutely brilliant!" Stella roared.

"However did you think of the door being the lever instead of a string!?" Priss asked.

"Oh its physics." Anne chuckled.

"And the way it fell on his head!" Stella laughed.

"You ladies are very lucky us boys are such gentlemen." Frank said catching up to them. "We might have ratted you out."

"Oh you wouldn't!" Stella exclaimed.

"No, we wouldn't its called being a gentlemen." Frank commented

"And for that we thank you." Anne said to him before she noticed Gilbert had caught up with them right beside Frank.

"What say you Gilbert we still have time to go back and tell the professor why he just had to take a 2 hour lecture in soaking wet clothes." Frank teased them.

Gilbert swallowed directing his gaze at anyone but Anne. "Alas, I think the gentlemen protests too much."

"Meaning?" Frank asked him.

"Meaning when you point the finger three point back at you." Gilbert continued.

"Meaning?" Frank asked for further clarification.

"Oh for Pete sake Frank!" Stella said taking his hand pointing the finger forward and three tucked behind. "When you point a finger..." Stella said showing him "three point back."

"Meaning if you protest it it'll look suspicious." Priss added.

"Like we did it instead of you ladies." Frank nodded. "Clever, girls." He said.

"And anyway, I doubt, even if the professors didn't think it was us they would believe it were these fine ladies." Gilbert said flashing a grin at the others and had Anne been paying attention a longer gaze in her direction. "You're secret is safe with me."

"And for that we thank you." Priss smiled, "and anyway what are the boys planning for prank day?" Priss asked them.

"Now, that would be telling." Frank winked.

"Though I doubt we can top that." Gilbert told the girls.

"Then we shall be forever known as the pranksters?" Stella asked them.

"maybe puck?" Frank asked.

"More like Eris." Gilbert commented.

"Who?" Frank asked.

"Greek goddess of discord." Anne remarked without thought "Infamous for starting a fight between other goddesses over the Apple of Discord, leading to the Judgement of Paris and, ultimately, the Trojan War." She said blushing away at the look of admiration in Gilbert's eyes.

"Which only ended after Odysseus' idea of the Trojan Horse that the Trojan War was won. Odysseus is renowned for his intellectual brilliance, guile, and versatility and is thus known by the epithet Odysseus the Cunning." Gilbert continued.

"Discord and Cunning?" Priss smiled "sounds like a match made in heaven."

"The greeks have some funny legends." Frank shook his head.

"Hey I thought Greek Mythology wasn't until the end of next semester, there's no way you two have read _that_ far ahead?" Stella asked the two.

"No," Anne started, "Miss Stacy had us read Plato's Republic, and she mentioned that in it, Plato wanted to ban Homer's poetry and verse and it got me curious as to why." She admitted. "So I read it."

"Me too." Gilbert added looking at her with a smile he couldn't hold back. "Did you think..." he started which seemed to peak her interest but was interrupted by Frank cutting across

"Wait you mean to tell me you read it, for fun?" he asked.

"Oh but it was very interesting!" Anne insisted to Frank. "Its about the Greek Hero Odysseus, king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the fall of Troy..." Anne started.

"Did you know it was Ulysses in Roman myths?" Gilbert asked her.

Her eyes lit for a moment while a smile spread over her face "I thought it must be, but the encyclopedia was missing from the classroom, I couldn't confirm it."

"Oh, that was me..." Gilbert started.

Yawn!" Frank cut across again. "Come on smarty pants," he told Gilbert "we have to be off to plan our prank." And with one tug he pulled Gilbert away from the girls. Had Gilbert been watching he would have seen Anne's eyes follow him as he was pulled away, a look of disappointment on her face, a conversation on her lips ready, if asked she knew in that second that if she slipped ahead in her academia, it would be _for the proud consciousness of a well-won victory over a worthy foeman. It would be worth while to win, but she no longer thought life would be insupportable if she did not._

A few seconds passed before Stella interjected "Seems a shame you two have that feud."

Anne took a deep breath her nose going in the air "I can't imagine what you mean." Her eyes looking away just in time for Gilbert's eyes to look over his shoulder, longingly wanting the conversation which could break the ice between them. He took a deep breath and knew it might never happen, but one thing was for sure, she was worth the battle of the wits.

* * *

"Merry Christmas Marilla!" Anne smiled as she came down the stairs into the kitchen. "Oh Cinnamon rolls!" She reached over to get a gentle slap on the back of the hand.

"Not until after the presents, you need to leave it to cool so we can add the icing." Marilla told her.

"Are you putting the cinnamon in the icing too?" Anne asked her.

"Yes." Marilla smiled "I've put them in there since..." Marilla paused and shook her head "...well it doesn't matter since when."

"I like it when you do that." Anne smiled.

"I know you do." Marilla smiled. "Why don't you go into the parlour and see what's under the tree?"

"Okay." Anne said trying to contain her excitement "If you insist." And with an excited smile she exited into the parlour to find Matthew already sitting in his rocking chair. "Good morning Matthew." She said kissing his cheek.

"It's almost afternoon to me." He said softly. "I didn't hear you come in."

"It was almost midnight, I wouldn't have been able to wake at 4am if I tried." She smiled. "I know I know you always said I shouldn't need to but there's always a small part of me just a little part of me which feels guilty for allowing me to sleep until eight in the morning, especially since it's Christmas for you too." She said with a happily contented sigh. "Its such a wonderful time to be young Matthew, I'm fortune to be enjoying it."

"Did you have fun last night?" He asked her."Avonlea parties are nothing like the grand ones we find in Charlottetown, but I think it goes to show there maybe grandeur but it doesn't make up for any lack of heart." She said thoughtfully "it was fun, I wore the new winter tartan dress you got me and at first I wondered if it could have been wore in Charlottetown had I been there then I saw Gil- I mean one of the boys in the suit he wore for the Christmas ball at school and then I realised that maybe Avonlea and Charlottetown weren't so different." She thought for a moment "Isn't it funny how men's fashions follow women's so closely, the boys had on a tartan ties on too."

Matthew nodded thoughtfully. "I saw a present for you out on the porch, it was there after I fed the animals this morning." He said pointing her to the small box on the mantle piece.

Anne nodded and moved towards it. She looked at the small box confused "no tag to say who its from?" she asked him, to which he received a shake of the head.

Anne shrugged and opened the box, she looked down at the hand size carved horse. "Oh Wow!" Anne said looking at it curiously smelling the wood "Pine wood." She said.

"That's not shop bought, someone carved it." Matthew could see from over the room it was hand carved.

"Its beautiful." She said with a smile. "It reminds me..." she said shaking her head. "Isn't it funny, it reminds me of the Greek legend the trojan horse." She laughed placing it in the tree "Isn't it funny how one thing can get off the memory of another?"

Matthew nodded.

Anne smelled the air "Oh I wish we could just eat those cinnamon buns." She chuckled. "Patience is a virtue great..." Anne quoted with a smile then asked him curiously "Did your parents start the tradition?" she asked Matthew.

"Of cinnamon rolls?" Matthew asked for clarification. "No, it was Marilla, she made them for a boy she once liked. They were his favourite, made with the cinnamon in the icing too."

"Oh her romance?" Anne asked, then Matthew nodded. "Well whatever happened?" she asked.

"They had a disagreement." Matthew said softly and from what Anne could tell sadly.

"You liked him?" Anne added to which Matthew nodded "And you do have excellent judgment skills I'm sure I would have liked him too." Anne sighed "So why does she still make them?"

Matthew shrugged then smiled a little "He wasn't the only one to like them."

Anne grinned "No doubt."

With it said Marilla came in with the cinnamon rolls, to which both the occupying member of the room smiled. "Are we ready to start the day?" Marilla asked.

* * *

Gilbert yawned as his foot hit the bottom step a hand going through his curly hair his feet took him along the hallway into the kitchen.

"Merry Christmas Gilbert." His mother smiled. "Not like you to sleep till nine."

He shrugged "Broken nights sleep." He said trying to wipe the sleep out of his eyes, "I took an early walk this morning, tried to go back to sleep afterward."

"In the snow?" his mother asked "where to?" she asked.

He shrugged "no where in particular, just needed to walk." He said with a shrug. "Oh cinnamon rolls, my favourite." Gilbert said reaching to them to which his mother slapped the back of his hand and in quick succession John entered the room trying the same thing.

"Not before they were mine." He teased to which he received a slap on the back of the hand. "Hey!" John objected.

"They aren't finished, or do you not want the icing on?" Mrs Blythe asked them., both boys shrugging Gilbert finding said icing dipping his finger in and licking it "Gilbert Blythe!" she reprimanded.

He shook his head. "More cinnamon."

"There's plenty of cinnamon." She told him.

"Ah but you're making for the Blythe boys." John teased his wife. "We've become resistant to the normal level of cinnamon and therefore need more to taste it." He told her to which his son nodded his head agreeing.

"its a fact." Gilbert confirmed.

Mrs Blythe tutted reaching over for the cinnamon and adding more.

"Atta Girl!" John said putting his arm around his wife.

"Mmm." She said looking dissatisfied, where Gilbert stood behind her and put his arms around his mother.

"I love you ma." He whispered.

"I love you too Gilbert." She told him and smelling her son said "You smell nice." She told him.

"Oh?" Gilbert said sniffing himself.

"Yes, you smell of wood." She told him.

"It must be from the firewood." Gilbert shrugged.

"No, its not firewood." She said smelling him again which got a strange look from her son. "Um, Pine." She decided.

"From my walk?" he theorised his mother still sniffing. "Mom!" he objected where she finally met his hands.

"Especially your hands." She commented.

Gilbert pulled back "Makes sense since you touch trees with your hands." He muttered then decided to change the subject "can we go and open presents?" he asked her.

"One!" she said sternly "while I finish off these." She told him. Gilbert turned with a smile towards the parlour. "I mean it Gilbert!"


	5. Chapter 5

"Oh Anne-Girl!" Miss Barry exclaimed as the young girls foot hit the ground coming out of the carriage.

"Good afternoon Miss Barry." Anne smiled with a fond peck on the cheek for the older lady, "Can I first thank you for your generous offer for me and my classmates this afternoon." She said and with her words another three carriages followed. "Our class is looking forward to it, and my Avonlea friends in the first year are glad not to miss out of the social event." Anne chuckled.

"Well what is the point in having all these carriages if I don't use them." Miss Barry replied "I admit I look forward to meeting some of my nieces schoolmates from Avonlea, she talked of them often, now you be sure to introduce me to every single Avonlean." She then whispered to Anne "I don't want any word getting back to Avonlea that I was ungraceful."

Anne smiled "I'll be sure to." Anne told her. "There are plenty of us." She said as the carriages started to empty behind her. "I'll start with the Avonlea girls." Anne smiled as they approached. "Miss Barry, may I introduce, Miss Jane Andrews, Miss Ruby Gillis and Miss Josie Pye." Anne introduced as each girl curtsy though with Josie she seemed angry at the prospect, after all she was _above_ the Barry's in Avonlea.

"Thank you so much for the invitation Miss Barry." Jane said sweetly.

"Your house is ginormous!" Ruby exclaimed in awe.

"Well thank you for noticing." Miss Barry chuckled. She looked to Jane "Are you related to a Ralph Andrews?" she asked the girl.

"My brother was named after my Grandfather Ralph Andrews, yes ma'am." Jane nodded.

"I remember him as a boy, quiet type, not particularly academic but intelligent in his own way." She nodded. "and a beauty such as yours and Gillis? Alice Bell, married a Gillis."

"My grandma." She nodded. "Oh and she was a belle!"

Miss Barry nodded "she was that."

"And my grandfather was Sirius Pye." Josie interjected.

Miss Barry looked to Josie and nodded "Yes with the family nose there's no mistaking it."

They were interrupted at that point by the second carriage opening, only Miss Barry saw Josie's hand going up to her nose sweeping up and down it consciously.

"Well shall we go in ladies?" Miss Barry asked them.

The luncheon went down well. There was in attendance all the second years and the first year Avonlea girls. The room was filled with chatter and friendliness, a common theme that they were half way through the year and no one quite felt prepared for the up hill struggle of the next few months.

"So tell me Anne-Girl." Miss Barry asked her as they crossed the room as the class was scattered round a few rooms talking together. "Have all the Avonlean's stopped going home at the weekend now?" she asked.

"I think for the most part." Anne admitted, "I know I wasn't comfortable at first staying longer then needed, it wasn't really homey yet." She said.

"Oh and what changed?" Miss Barry asked.

"A few things I suppose." Anne told her. "I suppose the most part is becoming comfortable in a different place a different setting, we became happy and settled with our social groups here and where we were placed both academically and physically." She smiled at the memory "and you know it's not all bad," she admitted "The first week I was horribly home sick but I came back to my lodgings and there were flowers there I could have sworn were from Avonlea." She chuckled "I realised how ridiculous it was that I thought that, but at the same time, not, Avonlea is after all on the island, geographically speaking we aren't quite so far away, it reminded me that home was closer then I thought."

"Flowers?" Miss Barry focused, "Did you find out where they _did_ actually come from?"

Anne opened her mouth to reply but knew none could come. "No." She admitted. "There was no card, I always supposed one of the girls saw how lonesome I looked that first week and went to pick them in a local park." She shook her head as they approached two boys "Oh Miss Barry, another two Avonleans." She said. "Master Charles Sloane and Master Gilbert Blythe."

"There's no mistaking both your heritage." She said with a smile to them. "Charles you look just like your grandfather, the spitting double." She said quite amazed.

"My dad always says that, I knew him well when I was younger, Grandpa Anthony." Charlie nodded. "Thank you." He said with a Sloane swagger, as if it had been a compliment though Miss Barry only said she was his double.

"And you're a Blythe for sure." Miss Barry said. "You always were a handsome lot." Gilbert smiled humbly before she looked between Anne and Gilbert. "Are you the one to call my great niece Crowhead?" she asked him

Gilbert cringed at the old nickname while Charlie chuckled. "Yes ma'am." He acknowledged "but please, try not to judge me on it."

"Or Carrots." Charlie quipped which made Anne's face burn, Gilbert hold his breath in a blush and Miss Barry observe the pair further, Mr Sloane had obviously hit a sore spot.

"You're John Blythe's son yes?" she asked him.

Gilbert looked surprised. "Yes I am, you..." he paused "you knew my father?" he asked.

"He was only a boy when I left, along with your charge Miss Shirley Marilla Cuthbert, they were very young, but then I suppose so was I." She chuckled. "You look like him, except your eyes, you must have..."

"My mothers eyes." Gilbert said his smile going wide and Miss Barry looked surprised. "I get it a lot."

"Your grand father had a brother did he not?" Miss Barry asked him.

"Yes." Gilbert acknowledged. "Much younger he was born around the same time as my dad. My great Uncle David."

"And he's a doctor yes?" Miss Barry asked.

"That's right, up in the Glen." Gilbert replied.

"So are you physically or academically minded?" Miss Barry asked him.

Gilbert thought for a moment before he said hesitantly "I hope to put myself in the best position for both."

Miss Barry wasn't satisfied with the answer "hmm." She sounded before asking Anne, "So Anne-Girl, do you agree with that assessment?"

Anne looked up surprised. Again being asked her opinion of Gilbert Blythe but this time to his face. "I don't pretend to know Gilbert well enough to make a very informed choice Miss Barry." She said quietly "but I think he has proved himself a worthy opponent to the academically minded as well as in a brawl."

Miss Barry tutted "Well you hear that Gilbert, you have choices." She told him.

Gilbert, was too busy looking amazed at the fact Anne hadn't insulted him he almost didn't respond. "Indeed I do." He agreed.

Charlie chuckled "Miss Barry they are both too humble." Charlie told her. "They are both smart enough for a shot at the gold medal and the Avery prize." He said.

Miss Barry's eyebrows shot up then looked between the pair again "That would be a prize indeed."

"Thank you again for having us Miss Barry." Anne smiled as her class mates filled the carriages again.

"It was my pleasure." Miss Barry said to her. "I'm glad you're in such a fine group of friends." Miss Barry said "some of them uncommonly handsome," she said with a smile to Anne "especially Gilbert Blythe."

Anne took a deep breath then acknowledged "Yes I suppose he is." She said.

"Don't fancy his company all that much?" Miss Barry asked her.

Anne paused and shook her head "No, Miss Barry it isn't that, Gilbert is smart he's academically very much on par with me, I know that from our results at every test, but I hold no silly notions on him either, we've never really clicked." Anne admitted. "There is, after all more to a friendship then being likeminded in school."

Miss Barry nodded "Yes I suppose there is, it seems a shame is all."

"But I never got the chance, and he hasn't sook me in friendship at all." She said not adding on 'in the past year at least.' "It would be unladylike and an awful assumption that he would want my friendship after all this time."


End file.
